The one
by neon rose
Summary: People always say love so flippantly, but when The Flash of all people finds the One when she saves his life will she or any of the Justice League belive that he may actually be in love this time? flashOC
1. Recovery

A/N: Sorry, I don't own the justice league.

It had all started when he'd been messing around in batman's car, just seeing how it worked and toying with things. That was until he'd gotten himself locked in the boot, it had been about two days and he was starting to be unconscious almost all of the time. The human body could only last three days without water and seeming as his metabolism was much faster he was almost dead.

It turned out that batman got his car repaired at a normal mechanics, someone that he had a deal with; of course he hadn't known that a near dead Flash was lying in his trunk.

It became suddenly lighter... Flash had gotten used to the dark of the boot and when it suddenly became light, he was aware of it, even in his near dead stupor he noticed. He groaned faintly.

"Oh gods!" A female voice yelped, he could hear this through the fuzz in his mind and he could also feel himself being carried.

He slowly opened his eyes and the headache hit him, the light was blinding and he felt like he had swallowed sandpaper.

"Oh! You're awake! Quick, drink this." A voice gasped, he felt something press against his lips lightly, as his lips became wet he realised what it was. WATER! He gulped from the drink bottle thirstily and his throat felt slightly better. He groaned and sat up, the room span violently and he tipped to the right.

"Whoa, easy there." The voice murmured, gentle arms caught him and his head fell against a soft torso.

"Mnyeh..." He groaned and tried to make something of the blurs that he could see.

"Um... more water?" The voice asked helpfully. He nodded weakly. A cold water bottle seemed to appear in his hands and he drank more of the cooling liquid before passing out again.

When Flash finally opened his eyes for what seemed the third or fourth time, he sat up without feeling woozy. He grabbed a drink of water by the side of his bed and drank it. Now, this was the thing, it wasn't his bed... but where was he? The room didn't seem like some kind of prison, the blue bedcovers rustled in a crisp and clean way as he kicked his legs out of the bed and sat up successfully without falling on whoever it was that he'd been falling on lately. Whoever it was they were female, he could tell from the nicely squishy chest and the soft hips and arms that he'd been leaning on.

He looked around the room, she wasn't here now that was for sure. There wasn't much here altogether actually, the wallpaper was slightly faded and there was a table and chair that looked a bit worse for wear. There were hundreds of books scattered around the room, he scooped one off the floor that was close enough to his bed for him not to get up, he didn't trust his legs yet.

"Advanced Mechanics, the turbo engine and you?" He read out loud. He snorted, boooring. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, and he suddenly panicked and then relaxed again, his mask was still on, but the rest of his suit was gone, he was wearing a T-shirt and boxers. But... but what if whoever's room this was... had looked under his mask? His whole secret identity could be blown! He had to leave, he got up on his legs and stood still for a moment, he was a little shaky but fine, he took a step forward and fell ungracefully and loudly to the floor.

Footsteps thudded rather quickly towards the door, he shakily pushed himself up on shaking arms. He saw a pair of legs appear around the door, which were next to him in... well... in a flash. The girl pulled him to his feet, she happened to be very hot... and sweating... and incredibly sexy he noted as he looked at her.

"What're you doing trying to escape or something? You barely lived, you can't just go running off the first time you're properly conscious!" She frowned as she guided him back to the bed not noticing the look he was giving her.

"Uh-uh. I gotta go... you know, people to save, villains to outrun." Flash shook his head and tried to get up again.

"Uh-uh yourself, you're not going anywhere until you're better. I'm on strict orders." She said pushing him back.

"From who?" Flash asked raising an eyebrow underneath his mask.

"The masked man who's trunk you locked yourself in." She replied with a slight smirk as she flicked a lock of brown hair out of her eyes.

"Ah. Him." The speed demon nodded.

"What on earth possessed you to climb in his trunk anyway?!" The girl giggled.

"Curiosity." He replied sheepishly.

"Heh, curiosity kills the cat." She grinned and walked around the bed and grabbed one of her books off the floor.

Flash tilted his head and looked at her, she was tall for a girl, only a few inches shorter than him; nice figure too toned muscles lying just beneath slightly bronzed skin sparkling with fresh sweat. A grey tracksuit clung to her curves and her slightly flushed face was surrounded by soft brown waves of hair.

"What've you been doing?" He asked curiously, the girl looked like she'd just run eight times around the block.

"Oh, heh, sorry about this. I've just got back from track." She smiled slightly embarrassed.

"Track?" He frowned curiously.

"Yeah, I'm in the track team in my college. All distances, especially sprint though, I'm only about a quarter-second from breaking the ten second barrier for the 100m." She grinned pleased.

"Wow." He blinked impressed, also stunned that she was in college, that would put her at about... eighteen years old... he'd have thought she was older.

"You're still not as fast as me though." He grinned teasingly.

"Bet I could outrun you now. You can't even walk, remember, I just picked you up off the floor." She shot back with a triumphant smirk.

"Pft. I'm injured." Flash frowned not liking that she was right.

"And it's your own fault too." She added.

"Who are you anyway?" The flash, aka Wally West, asked the girl.

"My name's El. Although I could ask YOU the same thing." She pointed out as she changed her mind and put the book back down.

"I am THE FLASH!" Flash said proudly and puffed out his chest.

"Even superheroes have names ya know." She smirked as she threw her jacket at him and left the room.


	2. Unexpected

A/N: is attacked by a sudden swarm of reviewers for almost all her fics GAH! pulls herself up Okay, I'll update this one first since I'd gotten about halfway through this chapter anyway. O.o

Godfather: Yes... we mustn't let that happen... O.O hums weird al's "Yoda"

Unicorn Pie: heh, thanks.

Girl-interrupted33: heh, I've got some more dialogue here for yeh.

Oh, and I still don't own the Justice League.

The next day, flash was up and walking, slowly, but walking nonetheless. He browsed around El's room seeming as she was out at college and had forbidden him to go outside. He wouldn't normally have listened to such nonsense but he doubted that he could get very far at the moment, and she was incredibly sexy.

He had briefly looked at all of her books, mostly on mechanics or art, as different as the two subjects were. He sat at her desk, more papers on art history; he guessed she must be doing it at college. A small thud alerted him to the fact that he had knocked something on the floor. He paused and reached down and picked up the item.

It seemed to be some kind of book... A4 size and spiral bound, its simple beige cover giving no clues as to what it was. The Flash paused, this could be a diary or something very personal he really shouldn't open it... oh well. The flash opened the book and discovered that it was a sketch pad.

Sketchy drawings of dancers in dramatic poses, of ferocious lions, of portraits of people, even the odd sketchy cartoon. Her work was brilliant in an effortless way, these were merely doodles, simple five minute sketches. He breathed in silent awe as he flicked through the pages, the most recent was of a man sprawled out on a bed, it seemed half-finished almost. There was amazing detail on the limp hands and the muscles in the torso, the man's lips looked soft and almost real... but the top half of his face was totally blank. Then it occurred to him, that this was a drawing of him, lying sprawled out on her bed. There was something very surreal about seeing someone put this much effort into something revolving around him.

So, his caretaker was an artist then? He got up and explored the rest of her apartment, there was only another room a mixed living room/kitchen/dining room and a bathroom of course. He found a corner of the room had been crammed with art stuff, canvases covered with cotton sheets were stacked around. The painting that she was doing at the moment was some kind of landscape... a city one. He pulled the coverings off the canvases and looked at them all one at a time, she was good, this stuff should be selling for thousands if not more.

"You like?" A soft voice asked from behind him. Flash spun around almost guiltily, but she didn't look angry or annoyed at him just quietly curious, her brown eyes fixed on him and he felt certain that she could see under his mask.

"Yes." He replied honestly, almost with a gasp. He almost didn't recognise his own voice, it sounded needy... almost desperate... where had that come from?

"Too bad most people don't." She murmured softly.

"At least I can still fix cars... makes just enough for me to live on and art and college stuff. Of course, your friend Batman helping me out by letting me fix his car every so often does help some." She nodded and raised a cup of coffee to her lips and walked off to toss her bag in the corner of the room.

"How come he does that anyway?" Wally asked after a small pause.

"He parked his car outside my house once, and I couldn't resist the chance to tinker with it. I managed to get it into my workshop and fixed the one of the problems with it. After he realised that I wasn't trying to steal it, he saw that my work was good and offered to make me his mechanic, as long as I never tried to sell him out to the media." El replied as she walked over to a bookcase by her kitchen work surfaces.

"That sounds unusually reasonable for Bats, are you sure we're talking about the same guy?" Flash smirked before raising an eyebrow as El started pulling books out of the bookcase and throwing them over her shoulders and all over the room behind her.

"Damnit... I can never remember which one it- ah." She smiled as the bookcase slid back after she pulled a red book back.

"And he wasn't particularly reasonable at the time, just to answer your question." El replied as she rubbed her left arm and opened the door that the bookcase had revealed.

"Oh?" Flash asked as he followed her down a set of cold dark stairs and down into a big dark room which was suddenly illuminated by a single bright light bulb, El turned to him and held out her left arm.

"See the scar? I almost bled to death, those batarangs can be nasty." El pointed to the inside of her elbow where a long white scar lay.

"That sounds more like him." Flash nodded. El smiled softly before tugging on a long motor-oil stained T-shirt and scuffed kneepads, she sat down on one of the skateboard like things that mechanics use.

"So how much does he pay you for dealing with his car?" Flash asked as El slid under the bat-mobile that lay black and sleek in the middle of the room.

"Double my normal rate and triple when it's technology that only he has, any additions I make he pays me for in full, whoever he really is must be really rich. When I added this souped up rocket engine to this baby it paid for a whole year of college for me. I just hope I come up with something like that again, because I'm looking short for my entry to Uni." She sighed as she pulled herself out from under the car to grab a spanner and slide back.

Flash couldn't think of anything to say to this so he stood up and made his way around to the boot of the bat-mobile.

"_My old nemesis... we meet again."_ Flash narrated silently as he narrowed his eyes and popped the boot open.

"_You killed my father... and you tried to kill me... but you forgot to count on one thing... ME!"_ Flash added dramatically but still silently.

"_ooh! Shiny!"_ Flash smiled happily and leaned in the boot and poked at one of the silver pipes, he watched a screw fall to the floor.

"Well that can't be good." He murmured.

"What can't be- GAH!" El yelped and the sound of a large amount of liquid falling reached his ears. A few seconds passed before the grease and oil soaked girl slid out from under the car, she sat up, turned to him and narrowed her eyes dangerously.

"Uh... bye!" Flash yelped before dashing up the stairs, far slower than normal for him but fast enough to get away from El before she could rip him apart.

"Eeeesh... if looks could kill..." He murmured quietly and wandered back into the room he had been sleeping in.

He sat at the foot of El's bed later that night still staring at the sketch of himself. He sighed and stood up, he hadn't heard El moving around the house in ages, although after the oil incident he had been trying to keep out of her way. Wandering out into the main room he failed to find her there, he walked quietly over to the bookcase door and peered down.

"El? You here?" He called thinking that perhaps she was still working on the car but no answer came. Flash frowned and turned around again, something on the front door caught his eye, he walked over to it and pulled the small white piece of paper off.

_Flash,_

_Gone out with friends, I'll be back later._

_Don't even think of touching the car or I'll kill you._

"Lovely." Flash muttered quietly and read on.

_Also, don't try and leave the house or else._

_There's food lying around if you get hungry._

_Try not to lock yourself inside anything again._

_El_

"She can't tell me what to do! I'm a superhero!" Flash pouted indignantly, he'd go out if he wanted to. In fact, he would go out! He stormed back into the bedroom and grabbed his red spandex trousers, gloves and boots, contrary to popular belief his suit wasn't just one thing, that would make it too hard to run. Now where was his shirt?

Half an hour and one thoroughly messed up flat later flash shouted in frustration.

"SHE STOLE IT! JUST TO STOP ME LEAVING!" Flash shouted angrily. That was a low trick, she knew that he wouldn't, no, _couldn't_ go out in public looking like he'd just lost his shirt. He had pride in his appearance damnit, and as much as he was sure that the ladies would love a look at his finely tuned muscles but damnit he just couldn't go out looking like that! Flash's eyes fell on a pair of El's jeans that he had thrown across the room earlier when he had gone through her wardrobe thinking that she might have hidden his shirt in there.

No... he couldn't... I mean, she was a girl... they probably wouldn't even fit... flash imagined El's triumphant face thinking that she had outsmarted him. He sighed and grabbed them.

Flash, no... Wally West stood in front of the mirror dressed in a pair of grey jeans and a plain white t-shirt. At least it wasn't that obvious that he was wearing a girl's clothes... He ran a hand through his now loose red hair, he really shouldn't be going out without his mask on, but then again that was the bonus of having a secret identity wasn't it?

He smirked, as he entered the fifth nightclub that night and spotted El in the middle of the dance floor wearing none other than _his_ shirt. Oh yes, she definitely wouldn't have suspected this he smiled as he walked towards her.


	3. Hurt

A/N: thanks to koalared, Reluctant Dragon, girl-intrruptd, Qk, Maid of the Mer, Element Girls for reviewing, it means loads to me!

As the Flash advanced towards El new thoughts began to enter his head, strange thoughts, CONSIDERATE thoughts... What if something happened to her because of him? He couldn't be around her in both of his identities, someone might figure it out and hurt her to get information about him, and heck she would probably figure it out if she saw him unmasked, after all it wasn't like his voice changed... He paused, unfazed by the people on the dance floor jostling him, he was barely an arms length away from her and yet... it felt wrong to intrude on her life just to get her back for making him stay home.

Home... yes... her house WAS becoming like a home to him. She had let him in, fed him, looked after him and he had done nothing for her in return. Well... he certainly wasn't going to ruin her life as payment. He turned and walked off the dance floor and headed out of the nightclub.

El turned around feeling as if someone had called her name just on the edge of hearing, or if someone had waved at her out of the corner of her eye; something had happened but she was at a loss for what. There was no-one behind her, no-one she knew anyway. She frowned and attempted to shake off the feeling of a lost moment.

Flash dashed around El's flat at what was significantly below his normal speed but he was still recovering after all. He put the flat back the way that he had found it, returned El's clothes to their rightful places, after all how would he explain his sudden cross dressing to El? Eventually he slowed down and flopped back on his bed, he cuddled into its softness, he liked his bed, it was probably the most comfortable piece of furniture in the whole flat. Flash's eyes clicked open; he had been so self absorbed that it had never crossed his mind to where El was sleeping at night. The sofa caught his eye through the open bedroom door...

El slid her key into the lock of her front door, now for a shower and then... sleep, sweet sweet sleep. She checked her watch, it was nearly two in the morning and she had an early class in the morning too...

After taking off her shoes she padded slowly over to her bedroom door in the dark and eased the door open as quietly as possible and peered in. El blinked surprised, the bed was... empty!

"Oh no..." she breathed stepping backwards and bumping into the sofa, he was missing! Her eyes darted down and saw a lumpy shape on the sofa; she leaned over and saw Flash's sleeping form emerge from the hazy darkness of the room.

"What are you doing there?" She whispered quietly to herself. She shrugged and quietly padded off to the bathroom to shower before going to bed for the first time in a week, she had to admit her sofa was not all that comfy to sleep on.

When he heard the door close and the shower start Flash opened his eyes and sat up ceasing his pretending to sleep. Did she always check in on him at night, or was this a special occasion? He hoped that she was pleased to have her bed back... now he too could... Flash yawned tiredly. Now he could... mmm... sleep...too...

Flash had planned to get up early and surprise El with a lovely hot breakfast; however he had been sleeping instead. El crouched by the edge of her sofa and gazed at the sleeping figure of Flash, he had one leg over the top of the sofa, had completely thrown the blankets off and had most of his bodyweight balancing precariously on the edge of the sofa. She waved a hand over the freshly cooked plate of breakfast sending tasty aromas wafting into the Flash's nose; he sniffed and leaned towards the breakfast still mostly asleep. The sudden drop to the floor woke him up though, with an amusing yelp too.

Flash chewed his mushroom thoughtfully and tried not to look over at El who was sitting on a high barstool type chair to her kitchen work surface in just a pair of girl boxer shorts and a loose vest. She was showing enough bare skin to significantly distract Flash from the tasty meal that he had balanced on his knees.

"You didn't have to cook for me you know." He offered, remembering his promise to be more grateful to her.

"What's with the sudden "I am not worthy" behavior?" El asked him without looking up from her own breakfast. Flash attempted to remove his eyes from the bare patch of skin between the top of her boxers and the bottom of her vest before trying to speak.

"I just thought that, y'know; you've done a lot for me and all." He said lamely before jabbing at his scrambled eggs.

"Okay..." El said slowly before putting her plate in the sink. She walked over to Flash and sat on the arm of the sofa. He tried not to look up and continued jabbing the eggs.

"Have you ever looked under my mask?" He asked suddenly, he was almost shocked at himself, the sentence has seemed to skip out his brain before going to his mouth.

"No, of course not." El replied with a note of hurt in her voice. Flash's head snapped up and saw the same shocked and hurt expression present on her face too.

"I didn't mean- I wasn't accusing you I just... you know, wondered." He said quickly hoping to repair his mistake, the expression on her face only deepened into upset as well as hurt.

"It's not that I don't trust you because you know Bats so you must be trustworthy if you haven't sold him out yet plus you've taken care of me and I like you and don't think you'd do that to me I just wondered because you know people get curious and you might've when I was asleep not necessarily to see but just to see if I was hurt or something." Flash said almost so quickly that El couldn't understand a word.

"Well, no. I never looked under your mask. How do you feel now?" El asked.

"Never better." Flash replied, confused by the sudden turn in conversation.

"Then you can leave, your clothes are in my room. I'm sure you have better things to do with your time." El said coldly before leaving the flat, Flash flinched when the door slammed.

He pulled off his mask and stared at it in his hands, he'd been stupid, and he'd upset her and now she wanted him to go.

"This is your fault." He told the mask.

After a while he collected his clothes and left El's flat unaware the he smudged the teardrops on the floor that El had shed after she had slammed the door.


	4. Apology

A/N: Thanks to balletangel19 and Element Girls for reviewing, it's nice to know that people still like my stories! (also, if like Flash you don't know what statue I mean go here and see: http/ )

"So, let me get this straight-" The Green Lantern began, "this girl, who you'd never met before, took you into her home, gave up her bed for you, nursed you back to health, fed you and clothed you, for what... a week?"

"Yeah." Flash replied.

"And... you accused her of looking under your mask?" He finished.

"I didn't accuse her! I just... asked..." Flash replied lamely.

"Not to state the obvious here but, I think you may have upset her." The Green Lantern pointed out.

"I don't even know why I asked! It just popped outta my mouth without asking my brain first!" Flash moaned rubbing his temples, he wasn't used to stress like this.

"Just like everything else you ever say then. And you're going to apologize to her." Batman said after listening to the whole conversation.

"Hey!" Flash snapped a little insulted by the comment.

"Flowers might be a good start, now get." Batman pointed out in an "I wasn't asking you, I was telling you" tone of voice. Flash left the room, very, very quickly, he didn't like that voice and was very keen to be elsewhere when Batman used it.

"You know..." The green lantern said after a moment or two, "it's actually bothering him that he's upset this girl; that has to be a first."

"Yes, he might actually care this time." Batman said flatly.

El opened her door, several wilted and rather bedraggled carnations were stuffed under her nose. El blinked and stepped back, she looked from the sad looking flowers to Flash and back again.

"Are... are those from the bushes outside my flat?" El asked suspiciously.

"Uhm... no..." Flash lied feeling he'd been rumbled, "maybe." He conceded.

"How thoughtful of you." El replied sarcastically.

"Listen, I came here to apologize for what I said, I didn't mean that to come out the way it sounded. Well I didn't mean to ask at all but it just slipped out." Flash said quietly, he wasn't used to doing this.

"You still haven't actually apologized." El pointed out.

"I'm sorry." Flash said honestly.

El looked at him, he'd obviously made an effort, a bit of a sad one granted but an effort nonetheless. He was a bit of a self-centered moron at times, well a lot of the time, but he'd grown on her. El felt her will bending at his sorrowful look.

"Okay, do you wanna come in?" El sighed and moved aside to allow Flash in.

Flash suddenly felt awkward in the middle of her flat now that he wasn't being forced to stay there, should he sit down, stand, talk to her? This is why he never got back in contact with girls when things got awkward and weird, he cursed batman and his own newly appeared conscience. He tilted his head slightly as he watched El putting the flowers he'd given her in a glass of water, he let his gaze slip around the room, she had her easel out with a new canvas on it, the cityscape that she had previously been painting was leaning finished against the wall. Pink-ish blobs covered the center of the new canvas.

"What are you doing next?" Flash asked pointing to the canvas.

"I'm not entirely sure yet." El sighed wiping her hands dry on a dishcloth.

"How can you not be sure? You're the one painting it." Flash frowned confused.

"Yes… but sometimes… the colour just comes, it's almost like I'm not painting it and I have to wait to find out what it is I'm painting." El explained and picked her brushes up from the easel and began to wash them in the sink.

"Huh, I never knew people could paint that way." Flash murmured squinting and trying to guess what it was going to become.

"It's a bit strange I'll admit, I don't know if other people do it, I might just be weird." She grinned.

"I would have gone with talented but oh well." Flash smiled.

"I think it's gonna be a person. Like the statue of atlas with the world on his shoulders, that kind of thing." El sighed as she moved in front of the painting to be.

"Really?" Flash murmured having no idea what statue it was the El was talking about.

"Mmm, stay here for a moment will you?" El asked before wandering into her bedroom and closing the door after her. Flash thought he could hear the sound of El getting dressed and desperately tried to keep his mind off of it. She emerged in shorts and a vest and wandered over to the door to pick up her trainers.

"Are you going?" Flash asked surprised.

"Uhm, yes I have to go and run in a competition for my college. I didn't know you were coming over here before, you can come with if you want." El said offhandedly as she tied her laces tight.

"I think I might cause a bit of a scene don't you?" Flash pointed out.

"Oh yes, superhero and all that stuff huh? Well, it's up to you, I'll be back in a few hours, but I have to go now." El shrugged.

"Uhm, see ya I guess." Flash blinked and left the flat with her and watched her jog off down the stairs. He paused, he wished he could see her run but he could hardly show up like he was now… But that was the bonus of having a secret identity wasn't it? Flash grinned slowly before running back to his home to get civilian clothes on.


	5. Medic!

A/N: Sorry for the delay, I've had exams and been pretty ill. Thanks to element girls for reviewing! hugs

Flash- uh… Wally… walked towards through college in jeans and a white T-shirt, this plan had seemed easier in his head, now that he was at the college he realised how big the place was and felt considerably lost. Velvety brown eyes caught his own, it was El, she was just looking up from tightening her shoelaces as her eyes caught his; he had to admit it was a good photo of her. The poster with the entrancing photo in question gave details of where and when the race that El was participating in was to start, it boasted about her competition against another girl from a rival college who apparently had left as many people eating her dust as El had. The poster proclaimed it a "Clash Of The Titans!" and that it was not to be missed, on this part he agreed and left quickly, but not too quickly.

Finally arriving at the race track Flash looked around. He blinked, why lately was he always thinking of himself as Flash? His superhero alter-ego seemed to be muscling him more and more out of himself, soon he would only ever be Flash. It wasn't surprising really, he had little life outside of the Justice League, except El really… she was the only thing that he wasn't sharing with the others and it felt nice to have someone to talk to just for himself.

A roar from the crowd roused him from his musings, he crept closer to the track but hid still in the shadows of the benches, he saw El walk onto the track and opposite her another girl walk on. Half the crowd were jeering the other were screaming with applause, there was obviously spectators from both colleges here but who anyone was booing or cheering for was anyone's guess. The other girl was tall, taller than El at least, she was well over six foot and looked powerful and intimidating; her skin was the blackest he'd ever seen and it glistened as the strong muscles under it stretched and tensed. He looked across to El she was tying up her long soft brown hair into a tight ponytail. A harsh loud voice blared out of the loudspeaker which was uncomfortably near him.

"This is the race we've all been waiting for folks, the clash of the states two top female runners!" The crowd screamed fanatically.

"And the guest of our college today is Kara Green!" Screams erupted from half of the crowd and bright banners with Kara's name were waved, hisses and abuse flowed from the other half.

"This young lady is quite the runner folks, she already holds the record for both the 1000 meter and 300 meter runs and has done so for the last two years and doesn't seem to be showing any signs of slowing this year! Coming in at a staggering six foot five she's towering over Elena Dias, but will she hold her own today!" More screams which Wally ignored, Elena… that must be her full first name. It now occurred to him that El… or Elena wasn't tanned at all, her skin was naturally a light brown, was she of Spanish decent, or maybe Native American? How had he not noticed before?

"And now, our own Elena Dias. She's a year younger than Kara but just to show that experience isn't everything she presently holds the 100 meter record, a title she just recently claimed off of Kara!" This time the whole stadium screamed, though half of them sounded viciously angry; this is why Wally had never cared for sports much, the fans were all nut-jobs…

"So, the question on everyone's lips is who will go home a winner today? Kara has experience on her side as well as several tightly held records under her belt, not to mention that added height means longer legs and faster speed. However Elena is new, young and fresh and has ALREADY claimed one title off of Kara, will she claim another today? This is the 500 meters, a neutral distance as neither have a record here, will Elena's quick sprint hold out that long or will Kara's long distance see her through? All we know is it's gonna be one hell of a race!" After the screams quietened down the two runners approached the starting line and set their feet into their blocks. Wally bit his lip.

El's heart was beating so impossibly fast, she'd never win if she was this terrified. She glanced over to Kara, she didn't hate the girl, all this rivalry stuff was just hype, on her side at least. Kara's jaw was set and her eyes focused straight ahead on the finishing line, El looked forward again. She was fast off the blocks yes… but she knew she was not a fantastic long distance runner, 500 meters would be too far to sprint and if she tired out Kara would win. Her only hope was… well… not to tire out. If she could get a good start on Kara she might be able to hold it for just long enough…

The horn sounded and she exploded off of the blocks, Flash gaped, it was like watching a cheetah jump start! El's feet barely touched the ground and in no time she was ahead of Kara by a good few meters and still making distance. As she started to cross the three hundred meter line he saw her starting to slow down, she was a sprinter and her short burst of energy was starting to fade, he saw the grimace of a grin spread across her opponent Kara's face.

_No! Move legs move!_ El screamed to herself, she could hear Kara gaining and she let herself slow, Kara passed her but El ignored it, she fixed her eyes on the gaining line on the floor, the four hundred meter mark, she could sprint 100 meters faster than Kara, so why not at the end of a race? Her right leg remained up in the air longer than it should have done, she plummeted to the ground, if she did this wrong the tendons in her ankle would snap and she'd never run again, but if she did it right…

Her foot hit the ground at the right angle, the same angle as if she was back on the starting blocks, she pushed forward with all her might and began to sprint her fastest, she was gaining on Kara, gaining at great speed.

"And… and… yes! She's overtaking, Elena has overtaken Kara and SHE'S OVER THE LINE! Oh that looked close folks, we're gonna have to consult the camera to find out who won that one what a ra- ELENA IS DOWN! She's bit the dust!"

El had been slowing down after crossing the line when everything went black, she didn't even feel the ground as it came up to hit her.

Wally ran his fastest towards her, while Flash forced himself to jog and not run. He skidded to El's side just as the paramedics did.

"Are you taking her to the hospital?" He demanded.

"Hell yes, she might have just had a heart attack for all we know, pft, athletes, they're all as crazy as each other." The paramedic grumbled as he rolled El onto a stretcher. Dirt and sand clung to the sweat El's face, she was suddenly very pale looking.

"You have to let me come with her, I'm her boyfriend, please." Flash lied much to Wally's surprise.

"Fine, get in." The paramedic said offhandedly as he loaded El into the back of the ambulance.

Through the closed windows of the ambulance he could see the figure of Kara watching them.


	6. Who?

A/N: Thankyou once again to Element girls and also Silverian Rose for reviewing, believe me, the reviews mean a lot to me.

Darkness. Pain. Movement. Light. Pain. Water….

Water… Water…

El's mind began to stir… she opened her eyes, it was completely dark, had she opened her eyes at all, or merely thought it? She licked her dry lips, it hurt, she tasted blood. She grimaced, that hurt too… the entire right side of her face hurt. The world spun violently and faded back into nothingness.

El groaned and sat up, it was daylight now, just about, dawn maybe. She looked down at herself, she was just in her underwear but… bandages ran all down the right side of her in patches. Her right shoulder and all down her right arm was completely covered down to the wrist, a few grazes decorated her hand but nothing more. Her ribs across the right side felt sore and were also heavily bandaged. Her hip had a big sticking plaster over it, the kind you see over new tattoos, both legs had scatterings of plasters and bandages but her knees were completely covered in bandaged, so much so that she could barely bend her legs.

She looked around, the room was empty but there was a small pile of duvets by her right side as if someone had been sleeping there. Then she realised, this was not her room, or even her flat. Panic gripped her as she heard footsteps coming towards her, she could pretend to be still asleep… but no, she wouldn't hide. A tall figure entered the room, he was simultaneously skinny and toned, delicate wrists and hands held a bowl. A pale and gentle face was looking into it, and not at her.

"Who are you!" El demanded loudly, the man was surprised and yelped, dropping the bowl to the floor with a clatter. Warm water spread across the floor.

"Who-" El began to demand a second time, but in her anger she had gotten closer to the edge of the bed than intended and crashed to the floor. Searing pain spread up her right side, her ribs screamed at her and she too let out a short, sharp, wounded scream. The man was at her side at an instant and rolled her off her injured side, worried blue eyes swam past the tears that pricked behind her own eyes, she tensed.

"Who are you?" She demanded again, a little less forcefully this time. Her eyes lowered to his mouth, wait… that mouth… that surprisingly gentle mouth…

"Flash?" She breathed.

"Ohshit…" he replied quickly turning his back on her so she couldn't see his face.

El let out a whimper as she rolled back on her injured side, she could have sworn she saw him tense and grimace with sympathy to her pain.

"It… it is you isn't it?" She asked quietly.

"I don't know what you mean." He replied in a forced low voice.

"Where's your mask?" She asked him.

"I didn't expect you to be aw- I mean… what mask?" he replied forcing a low voice again at the end of his reply. El tried to lift herself up, a loud crack from her shoulder announced that that wasn't going to happen, another yelp of pain slipped out of her. Quick as lightning the man turned around his arm was under her before she even hit the ground.

"What are you, stupid! You almost broke it when you fell, are you trying to break it now!" He snapped at her, a second passed then he seemed to remember himself again, he turned his head away from her trying to hide his face whilst still holding her.

"It's okay, I've… I've got my eyes closed." She said after a moment. Flash turned his head to see that it was true. He slid his other arm under her legs, trying to avoid putting pressure near her knees and lifted her onto the bed. Her good arm circled his neck and he felt her tense, he gently put her down.

El felt him leave her side, she didn't know if it was okay to open her eyes again so she kept them shut. She heard footsteps leave the room, the sound of a tap running, something being poured into water and then footsteps returning. The mattress dipped slightly as he sat down next to her, she was propped up on her good arm with her eyes still firmly squeezed shut.

"Your shoulder is bleeding again." Flash's voice said coldly, he had no doubt now that it was Flash, but why hadn't he had his mask on? She felt her bandage being roughly removed on her right shoulder, she winced with pain but said nothing. Suddenly hot stinging water ran over her right shoulder and the bitter anti-septic smell wafted into her nostrils, she whimpered.

"It's your own damn fault!" Flash shouted at El angrily, he looked at her shoulder, it was red raw and he could actually see the muscle of her shoulder, he was so angry at her.

"It was just a race for godsakes! You ran too fast and overheated your brain! You almost DIED!" He shouted at her, tears ran down his face hot and fast. He choked trying to hold back a sob and realised that he was holding her wrist hard enough to break it, he let go.

He leant forward with his head in his hands, he had been so scared, he was in the room when her heart flatlined, he watched the clock as they tried to resuscitate her praying for every second, bargaining with every god he knew the name of to let her live. They had brought her back from the dead and he'd stayed by her side for days until they let him take her home and then he hadn't left her side, so much so that he'd forgotten his mask. He felt a hand touch his back, El leaned herself against him, using her good arm to hold onto him in an attempt at a hug, her eyes were still closed. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair.

"You were dead, for five minutes you were dead. Your heart stopped, they said you were lucky to be alive, they said you might never wake up." He sobbed, she whispered apologies to him again and again.

The next day neither of them spoke about what had transpired and El pretended she had never seen him with his mask off and Flash always wore it from then on. It took several weeks until El was well enough for Flash to trust her in his house alone. It was roomy enough, but very sparse, it looked like he was ready to leave at any moment. Everything had that quality about him, always ready to bolt never with any attachments, he even distanced himself from her, and apart from that first day he never showed her any particular affection and he was not the same joking Flash that she had known at her house. He was gravely quiet, only asking about how her injuries were and if she needed anything but nothing else, never anything else.


	7. leaving

It had been maybe a month since he had first brought El home that it happened, he'd been fighting some villain, some villain who's name he couldn't quite remember, they all seemed the same lately, when he came home to find her not there. He had panicked instantly and tore apart the house looking for her, it was only when he was looking in the oven that he spotted her, she was in the back garden. Yes, he actually had a back garden, a small one with grass as high as his knees but he had one. El was sitting in the middle of it wearing white, she practically glowed. Her head was tipped back with her eyes closed apparently enjoying the feel of the sun on her skin. He rushed out and realised that for the second time he was not wearing his mask; it was difficult, he had to change out of his costume to come home but then back into it before El saw him; but this time in his panic of finding her he had forgotten. Her eyes clicked open and she looked surprised, she had been oblivious to his panic out here, it took her barely a second before she closed her eyes again. She completely respected his secrecy, even when she had the chance to see his identity and sell him out she didn't. He walked behind her and sat down.

El stared straight forward, not allowing herself to look around at him.

"What's wrong?" She asked him.

"I thought you'd gone, that someone had kidnapped you, I couldn't find you in the house." He replied and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I'm sorry-" She started but he silenced her.

"Don't be… listen… if you want to leave you can, but… please tell me. It's wrong of me to keep you here, you don't need watching anymore and… I know I haven't been that great to you. I'm not used to actually caring about people who… who know me." Flash murmured as he nuzzled into her neck instinctively, she smelt nice, like vanilla and spring mornings.

"If I leave… I won't ever see you again will I?" El said slowly.

"You'd be in too much danger." Flash whispered sadly after what seemed like hours, "If someone saw you coming from your house to mine, they'd figure it out. You'd be used to get to me, they could kill you or torture you until you gave up every detail you knew about me. I can't let that happen to you."

El sat still for a moment then said the words that she dreaded the answer to.

"Doesn't that apply if I stay here too?"

"Yes." Flash whispered, feeling his heart in his throat choking him.

El turned around to face him with her eyes closed, he saw tears sliding down her cheeks. Her hand touched the side of his face, she lent forward and kissed him. Flash felt his heart melt, and for a moment all the fear and pain was gone, all the sadness and anger, the hiding from the world who he was, it all just faded away. They parted and the world came flooding back to him, _no… just once more, make the world go away just once more… _He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down onto the grass with him and kissed her deeply, he wished the world away, everyone who could ever hurt them, he wished for a world where it could just be them. Just the two of them in this moment forever, that's all he needed. They eventually parted and he looked down at her as he rested on his elbow, and she looked up at him with so much sadness evident in her eyes. El took in every detail of his face before sitting up, she kissed him once again then forced herself to leave.

Flash and Wally West lay in the middle of the garden alone with the grass as a green wall around them.

"You've ruined my life." Wally whispered.

"I'm sorry." Flash replied.

"You're leaving." Wally said determined.

"You know I can't." Flash sighed.

"I don't care. You will." Wally growled and sat up. He walked into the house and put on Flash's clothes and ran.

From the roof of Flash's house a tall dark figure watched silently.

Batman stood with the Green Lantern enjoying a rare moment of peace where no-one was trying to take over anything or destroy something and they could just… relax. It was at this point that an unexpected amount of red spandex hit him in the head. Batman shook it off to see the Green Lantern pulling red spandex trousers off of his face with a look of disgust. J'ohn who had just walked into the room ducked as a red boot flew at him and bounced off of the wall behind him. All three looked in surprise at the angry red-haired man, who at this point looked at the point of insanity.

"Flash?" The Green Lantern asked carefully.

"NO!" the man screamed and hurled another boot.

"I'm not flash! Not anymore! NOT EVER AGAIN!" he screamed at an uncomfortably high pitch.

"Why are you-?" J'ohn started but was interrupted by Wally.

"Listen to me- don't ever come near me again, I'm not flash anymore you understand? I'm just a normal person, I'm Wally West!" He shouted almost deliriously.

"Normal? You think you can ever be NORMAL?" Batman growled.

"I am normal, leave me alone you understand, I'm going to go and live my life now." Wally raved.

"No, you need to understand, you can't live a normal life, you knew that when you became Flash. Trying to go back will only get people killed." Batman said advancing on Wally.

"No. You're wrong, no." Wally said shaking his head and backing away.

"So you've fallen for Elena, you think you can just drop everything and play happily ever after? Well you can't, you will get her killed do you hear me? Someone will take her and she will DIE. It will be your fault. She can't ever see you like this." Batman said coldly and rationally.

"You're too late, she already has, and I'm gonna take her far away, to somewhere where people don't know who Flash is." Wally snapped.

Batman paused before punching Wally VERY hard.

"You've KILLED her! If you've let her see you with your mask of she's just living on borrowed time, if she's living at all!" Batman shouted down to Wally from where he lay on the floor.

"No. You're wrong." Wally muttered shaking his head.

"The ONLY chance you have at saving her life is to never see her again, ever." Batman growled.

"Now, put your suit on." Batman ordered kicking it towards him.

The others left the room, leaving Flash on his own.


	8. kidnap!

A/N: thankyou once again to silverian rose and element girls for reviewing, it really makes me happy to see that people like my fics! 3

"And it looks like it's set to be a world record breaker folks, it's the country's top female athlete Kara Green! And, in a surprise turn up for the books, her old rival Elena Dias is also competing for the record!" A cheery voice proclaimed.

"Now, we've done some research into this little known athlete and found some surprising things. Elena actually beat Kara's record for the 100 meters three years ago and also beat her at the 500 meters but just seconds after she crossed the finish line for that very race she suffered a debilitating accident!" A second voice chipped in.

"And boy was this a nasty one folks!" The first voice laughed.

"You can say that again, multiple fractures and she was actually dead for five minutes! Now, for most athletes this would be a career ending move, but just months after her injury she was back in training again and now the only signs is a few scars!" The second voice informed eargerly.

"Despite being proclaimed the winner for that race many have called it a pity victory claiming the judges awarded it to her thinking that she would die or be forced into retirement and wanted her to go out with honour!" The first voice appeared again before the second took over.

"So now, we have once again a slam down between these two athletic giants, the race to settle the score once and for all!"

"And, bizarrely enough the statue in the middle of the track of the brand new Atlas stadium was designed and sculpted by Elena herself. So it's her stadium, her title and her record to defend! But first, a word from our sponsers-"

Flash leaned back on his sofa, why was she doing this again? Didn't she know how much it had hurt him last time to see her injured? But then again, she didn't owe him much after how suddenly he had dropped contact with her, he had even moved house to avoid her seeing him. And it hurt so much… He had been there when the stadium was opened, he hid in the crowds and saw a bronzed image of himself, his face a perfect likeness with the whole world on his shoulders. That was how it felt and the expression his bronzed double wore mimicked his pain, it had been called an artistic revolution.

Flash glanced back at the TV screen and saw Elena begin to run, she quickly outstripped Kara and he watched her almost effortlessly glide over the finish line. She was so beautiful when she ran.

"Elena! You've won! How do you feel?" a reporter asked rushing up to Elena. Her face filled Flash's TV screen.

"I… I feel great, I've proved that it was no pity win last time… and… that's all I set out to do here today…" Elena replied panting.

"And what's in store for you now?" The reporter asked shoving a microphone in her face.

"Well… I'm taking this opportunity to retire from racing. My art is most important to me now." Elena answered. Flash smiled, that was Elena for you.

"Well is it just you? We've heard you're a total no-go in the area of romance, is there any man in your life? Or woman even?" The reporter asked with a sly wink. Elena let out that bubbly laugh that Flash loved so, the weight on his soul lifted slightly for a moment or two.

"Heh, sorry no. The only man for me is the one with the weight of the world on his shoulders, also twenty feet tall and made of bronze!" Elena giggled, the camera panned to the Atlas statue.

"Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen, a real lover of art there and certainly a long-standing entry in our record books! Oh! There's Kara! KARA! How do you feel about the race?" The reporter asked rushing over to the tall woman.

"No comment." She said viciously shoving the reporter away.

Flash turned off his TV and flopped back on the sofa, he missed El so much, but the constant thought of her in danger kept him away. Batman said that he'd been lucky that she'd made it without getting kidnapped.

Elena tugged off her clothes and stood stark naked in the shower, the water running over old scars that had only healed on the surface. It was just as she was leaving the shower that she noticed her fully-dressed opponent in the room staring at her. Elena smiled and walked towards her, naked. Kara coldly stared at her, white scars ran all over her body, a note to their last match against each other. She picked up a towel and began to dry off.

"The press REALLY over hype this me versus you thing don't they?" Elena laughed softly as she dried off.

"I guess they do." Kara said coldly.

"It was a great run, and so good of you to race me again for my last ever race. You were wonderful, thankyou." Elena said holding out her hand for a handshake. It was pointedly ignored. Elena shrugged it off and began to get dressed.

"You know," Kara began as Elena turned her back on her to get her shirt out of her locker, "you run so fast, it's like you're the Flash himself." El twitched but then moved back nonchalantly again and turned to Kara.

"That's a strange thing to say." Elena said with a confused smile on her face.

"Not really, lovers do share similarities." Kara grinned evilly at El's surprised face before shoving chloroformed cloth over her mouth.

In the Justice Leauge a television screen popped into life just as Flash was about to win an argument against Batman, for the first time ever.

"Oh Justice Leauge, oh Flash…" A sweet voice called from the screen, they all looked. A stern faced woman with impossibly dark skin looked back at them.

"Oh good, now that I have your attention, I'd like lot of the government's money please, and maybe my own state as a country." The woman grinned.

"And we should do that why?" The Green Lantern asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, because I have Flash's old girlfriend hostage. And, to show you I'm serious, you'll be receiving her bloody T-shirt any moment now. Ah, there it is." She smiled as J'ohn walked in the room holding it and about to ask what it was.

Flash snatched it off of him and ran off, in a room down the hall he unfolded it, a big bloody gash in the middle alerted him to the fact that Kara was serious. He held the shirt to his face, vanilla and spring mornings… and… blood…

"What did I tell you?" Batman said bitterly as he took the shirt from the weeping Flash.


	9. Trade

"The president agrees, we're not to negotiate with this woman, especially not to give her a state and a huge yet unspecified amount of money." Superman announced.

"But- her LIFE is at risk here!" Flash shouted angrily. The others looked at him sadly; Batman grabbed hold of the lightning bolts on either side of Flash's head and dragged him out of the room.

"Did you go and see her?" Batman demanded.

"What?" Flash snapped back.

"Did. You. Go. And. See. Her?" Batman repeated patronisingly slowly.

Flash was irreconcilably angry, the room was dark and he'd been dragged around by his head, and… and… El might die…

"No, I didn't go see her. I wanted to, every day, but I cared more for her life than my own." Wally sighed, suddenly Flash returned, he barely ever felt like he was Wally anymore, it was easier that way. So much easier to ignore the pain and the loneliness, he'd been with other women since El, but… they all repulsed him in some way. He was always drawn to ones that looked or reminded him of El, ones with that soft hair, ones with the same skin tone, a similar laugh but… none of them ever felt right and he shunned them all in the end.

"If you're lying…" Batman threatened.

"I'm not okay! What do you care anyway!" Flash growled angrily.

"I care because she's a bright young woman, an artist and an athlete and someone I respected… respect greatly. El never cared about money or selling me or you out to the press and because of your endless stream of stupid mistakes she might die. And I want to know how much you're to blame. I want **you** to know how much you're to blame." Batman growled back before turning and leaving the room.

Flash stood still in the darkness, what should he do? They wouldn't bargain with her so… they had to use their own means to find El.

"We need to trace that call, it had to come from somewhere, so we find there we find E- we find the hostage." Flash announced as he walked back into the room with the others.

El winced over the cut on her arm, Kara had taken her shirt and cut it and then cut her arm, soaking the shirt in that blood as opposed to slashing her stomach. Was Kara scared to do it or was she merely putting off torturing her until later? El flexed her wrists, they were bound tightly behind her to the chair she was sitting on, there didn't seem to be any way to wriggle free.

"Why are you doing this?" El asked slowly, she was in the dark and had no idea where Kara was, but she knew it was her. She felt the room she was in shake, she had no idea how big or even where the room she was in was, but it was shaking, rocking almost…

"Why am I doing this? I'm doing this because of what you did to me. Because you called me out, to the stadium that you designed, with your statue in the middle of it, just to humiliate me. I let you and your superhero be when people thought it was a pity victory, but then you brought this on yourself and left me with no choice." Kara said in a hollow voice.

"You had a choice! You could have let it go; you have FIVE world records of your own! You didn't need to do this!" El pointed out desperately.

"And you just don't understand do you?" Kara sighed walking behind her. El felt cold steel on the nape of her neck, she froze, what was Kara going to do to her? Was she going to have her throat slit from behind? El braced herself for the cold slice of steel and the blank void of death, but then she felt a knife slice upwards tugging at her hair. Suddenly it fell free, short hair swung across her face, she had had cut her hair off.

Doors swung open and bright light burnt El's eyes, they were in some sort of caravan and Kara was tying the remains of El's ponytail to a telephone pole. El desparately tried to figure out where she was from the scenery, it just looked like desert and scrubland, no clues as to where she was. Damnit.

Flash was doing what he did best, running. The league had figured out where the call came from and he was off in… well… a flash. Inside though, Wally was niggling at him, putting forward the worst things that El could be going through. Pain. Torture…

He stopped at a phone pole, there was no-one here, but there was evidence that someone had hooked up to the phone line illegally, it was damaged and sparking. He walked around the phone pole looking up at the phone line for clues, with his hand trailing along the pole's surface. Suddenly there was softness, silkiness, waves of sweet-smelling delicate hair. Wally looked at the ponytail tied to the pole, they had cut off her beautiful hair. Above it was a note:

**Stop following, or I'll cut off something more permanent next time.**

**That'll be $500,000,000 please.**

**And TWO states.**

Flash debated with Wally, he had to follow them, his only chance of rescuing El was to do just that and hope and pray that he got to El before Kara had any chance to do something else to her. He looked at the tire tracks in the distance and sped off.

He noticed a caravan appearing as a speck on the distance. It couldn't be that, who would kidnap someone in a caravan for god sakes? But… there was only one set of tire tracks leading this way, now… if he could just line himself up perfectly with the caravan and avoid any wing mirrors, he might just be able to jump on…

The caravan bounced again, El guessed that they were off road now, probably to limit their chances of getting caught.

"So, tell me everything you know about Flash then." Kara smiled evilly.

Flash clung onto the doors with his feet balancing on the thin step on the back, he had his ear pressed against the wall to the caravan and could hear every word.

_Tell them everything El, anything just to buy you time. Tell them what kind of boxers I wear, what I like for breakfast, my eye colour, where I live, ANYTHING just so I can get to you. _Wally thought desperately as he edged around towards the doors.

"Why? You just wanted to do this to get at me didn't you?" El asked quietly.

_No! Don't antagonise her! Buy yourself time, don't give it away!_ Wally laid Flash's fingertips on the window ledge and ducked under the window and crept along the edge of the caravan.

"Yes, this was just to destroy you and get myself a whole lot of money and my own country… but I'd like to unmask Flash to the world so they can see who he his. You know, so villains kill him in his sleep and whatnot." Kara said simply and gestured with her knife as she talked.

The driver lazily looked into his wing mirror and saw the crimson figure edging along the side of the caravan.

"Uh… boss… we gotta problem…" He yelled back into the caravan.

"I see him." Kara grinned opening the door, Flash saw the gun but it was not pointed at him, but at El. Reluctantly he climbed in the caravan. Kara grabbed El by her now short hair, cut her bonds and yanked her to her feet in front of Wally.

El's eyes stared at him in wide shock and fear, not to mention pain. Wally quickly looked her over, there was no gash across her stomach as he had feared and the shirt had suggested, however her arm was bleeding fairly heavily. Flash noticed that she was just in her underwear. He felt somewhat relieved, Flash looked up at Kara through narrowed eyes.

"Have you ever heard of the expression "hamstrung" before Flash?" Kara asked as she bent down, lazily dragging the knife down El's legs, enough to hurt her and make her wince yet not deep enough to cut.

"Can't say I have." Flash replied. Wally remained silent and stared only into El's eyes.

"Allow me to enlighten you, these well developed tendons and muscles here at the back of El's legs here, if I cut them, she'll never walk again, much less run. She'll be crippled for ever, all because of you. Of course… the same thing…" Wally grimaced at Kara's use of his name for El, when everyone else called her Elena, El was his name for her. Kara began pulling herself up to full height again. She seemed to become distracted at El's shoulder. Her right shoulder.

"You know, these scars never properly healed, you did your best of course. But she'll be marred for life, not so beautiful and perfect now huh?" Kara looked at Flash and laughed. "Of course, that doesn't bother you. You'll take any woman, all the ones you've slept with since you kissed El here." Wally cringed at the hurt look in El's eyes before closing her eyes to him and to Kara. He remembered how she had trusted him and closed her eyes so she couldn't see his true face, now he felt she wouldn't open them to his real face. Those other women… were feeble replacements for El that never lasted, but El didn't know that…

"Oh where was I?" Kara asked revelling in the pain she has just seen in both their faces.

"Ah yes. The same thing, however, applies to say, tendons in her arms." Kara said lowering her knife to El's right elbow. Flash's eyes widened, El would never be able to paint again, after all the hard work that she had done to finally become a recognised artist! The knife pressed into El's skin, she squeaked in pain as blood blossomed out from under the blade.

"NO!" He screamed, Kara took the knife away quickly and grinned evilly at him.

"Now, I suggest that if you want her to remain with fully functioning body parts you'll be a good guest and take a seat." Kara ordered as she raised the knife to El's throat. Wally stared and moved to the seat and sat down, he allowed himself to be tied up.

"Good boy." Kara grinned. She slid open the door to the caravan again and yanked El over to it, Kara pulled the gun back out again and held it up to El's face, she pulled back the safety with a sickening sound of cold metal.

"NO! You promised!" Flash shouted.

"I did no such thing, after all, I don't need her anymore, I've got a far bigger bargaining chip now and I get my revenge as well. Aren't things just working out wonderfully today?" Kara said happily before pulling the trigger on El. There was a yelp and El stumbled backwards, the next second went like an eternity for him, blood misted in the air, it didn't appear to be a direct fatal hit but painful all the same, he watched El's foot go backwards in a natural retreat but only to find there was no more floor left. She fell backwards, her eyes locked with his then as time sped up she vanished from view to be left in the desert for dead.

A/N: Gosh this was a long chapter for me! I feel like I'm trying to develop two separate personalities for Flash! Hehe isn't Kara just so EVIL?


	10. Rescue

Batman slowed the batmobile down at the side of the road, he pressed a button and the passenger side door slid open, the girl got inside.

"Elena." He said gently, she looked over at him, she looked tired, hot and exhausted.

"She went that way, and she's got Flash." El said pointing straight ahead, Batman nodded and hit the acelerator hard, flames shot out of the exhaust and they sped off into the distance.

Flash clenched his fists angry with himself, in his panic to rush to the door to see if El had landed safely Kara had gotten her gun pressed against the side of his head, he might be faster than a speeding bullet normally but right now he wouldn't have bet his life on it. He was tired and stressed from his failed rescue attempt, if he moved away from the gun, he might be able to dodge before Kara reacted and shot him in the head. But that wasn't to say that she wouldn't be able to shoot him elsewhere...

"You won't be able to keep me here you know." Flash murmured standing remarkably still.

"And why is that then?" Kara growled tightening her finger on the trigger suspecting Flash was planning something.

"I'm the fastest man alive baby, you'll get distracted sooner or later and I'll be gone before you know it." Flash smirked devilishly.

"Well now I know how Elena felt, do you ever do anything but run away?" Kara said coldly, her words cutting deep into Flash.

"You don't know what you're talking about, I stayed away from El for her own good, so monsters like you wouldn't get your hands on her." He growled back turning to face her so her gun was pointed right between his eyes.

"Does it make you feel better saying that? Like no one else in the Justice League is seeing anyone, have you never noticed how often Superman rescues that one woman in metropolis? Tell me that's just coincidence. Face it, you're just too fast to love anyone; I bet you got bored with her pretty quickly with how fast you move." Kara laughed cruelly as she herded Flash over to Elena's chair and shoved him back into it.

"That's not true!" He shouted back as he hit the chair.

"Sure." She nodded sarcastically keeping her gun trained on his head.

"Here's one thing I have to ask you, the whole dual identity thing, does that lead to some kind of schizophrenia thing? You've got to be this invulnerable man that wears the mask, who's the hero, who can attack people who do wrong, and then… underneath all that, what is there? A completely different person? Or is there no one at all, does that superhero ego that you put on just eat away at the person you were until there's nothing left? Or do you switch when the mask comes off?" Kara asked reaching a hand towards Flash's face.

"Get away from me." Flash hissed angrily.

"I'm sorry you have to go through all this." Batman said breaking the silence in his car.

"Why? Kara's out to get me, apparently the vendetta that there was between us was real on her part, I thought I was all just hype for the audience. Turns out she really would kill me, she's only after Flash because he's a bigger bargaining chip than some half assed athlete and a mediocre artist." El shrugged careful not to open up the wound on her arm where her ransom t-shirt wound had come from.

"But if Flash hadn't had put you in danger-" Batman began again but was interrupted.

"I'd probably just have been murdered in an alleyway somewhere not ransomed." El interjected angrily.

Batman sat in silence.

"You're the one who's been telling Flash that he can't see me aren't you? That it'd put me in too much danger. Nice that none of you bothered to ask me if I wanted to take that risk huh?" El snapped angrily as she twisted in her seat to glare at Batman.

"You don't know what some people are capable of!" Batman shot back.

"Considering as I was just caught as a hostage and nearly crippled for life, I think I do! And anyway, that's not your decision to make for me!" El yelled.

"You're not informed enough to make a decision on how being involved with superheroes can put you in danger!" Batman retorted, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"What? Like you driving to my flat every few months you mean?" El muttered sensing the debate was going nowhere, she jumped slightly as something appeared on the horizon.

"It's them!" El yelped pointing at the caravan that they were inching closer to.

"Uh oh boss… we've got company… again." The driver shouted back to Kara.

"What?! Argh… damnit." She muttered backing towards the closed caravan door keeping her gun trained on the glowering Flash, she shoved the door open to see the Batmobile drawing parallel with them. In an instant Flash was behind her struggling with her for control of the gun, El slammed her hand on the controls in the car popping the door in the batmobile open.

"What-?!" Batman exclaimed as El pulled herself up onto the roof of the car, her bare feet slipped a little on the slick metal and carbon fiber. She steadied herself preparing the jump towards the caravan, Flash looked up.

"El?" He breathed in shock. Kara took the advantage of flash's distraction to yank the gun forward and train it once again on Elena.

"No!" Flash yelped pulling backwards on the gun, in the ensuing struggle the gun fired three times into the air. The unnerving sound of ricocheting bullets filled the caravan and Flash staggered backwards in shock holding the side of his neck.

"Flash!" El screamed before hurling herself at the caravan, her toes curled as she hit the edge of the floor trying to maintain her balance. With some effort she hauled herself inside the caravan.

"Fine, now I can get y-" Kara began smugly as she pointed the gun at El, surprisingly El lunged towards her punching her in the side of the jaw at unbelievable speed and making a unbelievably sickening crack as her head spun further than it looked like it should have.

"Shut up!" El screamed, after a moment she ran towards Flash who was slumped against the wall of the caravan with a shocking amount of blood spilling down his uniform. He slid to the floor as she wrenched her shirt off, sliding her arm under his neck she pulled Flash into her lap and attempted to hold the shirt over the bleeding wound.

"Stupid uniform!" El screamed in frustration as she tugged at Flash's uniform the annoyingly covered his neck. She slid her fingers under his mask and pulled it back off of his head, tugging it down further revealed the bare and bleeding skin of his neck. El pressed her shirt against the bleeding wound that seemed to be in no sign of slowing down.

"Why does your heart have to beat so damn fast? You're gonna make yourself bleed to death at this rate!" El sobbed angrily. Flash's hand slowly rose up to his face, he brushed his fingers against his skin and felt his mask was gone, lethargically he spread his fingers to cover the top half of his face leaving one eye to stare up sleepily at El.

"I'm sorry… I had to take it off." El whispered feeling Flash's blue eyes penetrate her soul and fill her with guilt. Slowly his eyes slid closed and his breathing slowed.

"We've got to get him back to the base." Batman said from behind her, El suddenly realised that the caravan had stopped, she looked up at him with her face wet with tears. J'ohn appeared at the doors of the caravan and walked towards the unmasked Flash and Elena, he lifted him up, holding onto his neck carefully. El's hand slid down Flash's arm until her fingers briefly linked with Flash's before the martian man hunter flew up through the caravan roof and presumably towards the Justice league's space base.

"I'll take you home." Batman said simply as he pulled Elena to her feet and led her to the car as the other members of the justice league arrived, the green lantern and hawkgirl stared at the shirtless Elena as she walked past into batman's car. She sat expressionless and silent all the way back to her flat.

"Batman." El said quietly as she reached her front door.

"Yes?" Batman asked.

"I know you're not going to let him see me ever again, but at least let me know if he's okay? Your car needs tuning up soon anyway, tell me then… please?" El pleaded, batman nodded before disappearing off into the shadows. Elena let herself into her flat and closed the door.


	11. Paternity

El pulled the canvas towards her and almost as if she were in a chance began to paint, pink went on first, followed by liberal amounts of white and then just the tiniest traces of blue. El stepped back and rubbed her arm, her hand was starting to cramp up, she'd have to leave it day, not only to let her hand rest but to let the paint dry.

"What is it?" A voice asked from behind her, El jumped up with a yelp, she span and found batman behind her.

"Jesus christ, don't DO that!" El gasped clutching at her chest.

"Uh... sorry. What is it?" Batman repeated again jesturing to the canvas which seemed to be a mess of disorganised shapeless colour.

"I've no idea, it's just... blocks of colour at the moment, something's going to come through it... but i've no idea what. I think this might be a hand here." El noted pointing to a particular spot halfway up the canvas.

"Shouldn't you know what it is?" Batman asked raising an eyebrow.

"You sound like Flash, speaking of which, you're a jerk." El interjected feeling irritated still.

"Not this again, I'm here for my car to be fixed, not to be pestered and insulted." Batman stated flatly.

"I'll ignore that. You have no right to make desicions for me, especially not in my love life." She shot back as she headed towards the hidden door to the garage below.

"He's not IN your love life, until yesterday it'd been three years since you'd seen him and even then that had only been about a month that you saw him then. He's not in your love life, you barely know him!" Batman argued annoyed at El's reations towards him.

"And who's fault is that?! Filling his mind with this seeing me will get me killed crap, and to think i actually bought that when he first said it to me, you had no right batman." El sighed before popping the hood of the batmobiel.

"You don't know what he's like with women, he makes them fall for him and then just leaves them at the drop of a hat, i don't think i've seen him hold a relationship longer than two weeks." Batman exclaimed angrily.

"So you're trying to protect me now?" El retorted from under the bonnet of the car.

"I've been trying to protect you the whole damn time!" Batman snapped slamming the hood of his car making El jump and look at him.

"From who? Bad guys? Flash? The world?" she asked quietly.

"Everyone! Bad guys will try to kill you, Flash will break your heart and the world will screw you over! I'm just trying to make sure that someone who actually deserves a good life, a good education, recognition for their talents actually gets it for once. You shouldn't have to be the nice guy that finishes last." Batman sighed leaning against the side of his car.

"Batman… I'm an adult, I need to make these decisions on my own. If Flash was only messing around with my feelings then I have to live with that. You're like the father I never had, and I know you have every right to worry but… I need to live life if you want me to learn any of those lessons." El sighed as well as she sat on the bonnet and rested her feet on the bat-tyres of batman's car.

"I know." Batman nodded.

"Did he ever say anything about me?" El asked with a hopeful grin as she flicked short hair out of her eyes.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Batman muttered.

"El!" flash yelped sitting bolt upright in bed, sweat rolled off his skin in huge beads. Panting, he looked around the room he was in; it was his room back and the justice league space station. Not that he had a room elsewhere, he's given up being Wally West and all things that went with it a year ago, he couldn't see much point, he was just renting a place for someone that didn't exist anymore. He sat up and gingerly felt his neck, it had stopped bleeding but it was still sore. He peeled off the bandage on it and flexed his neck, it didn't seem in danger of ripping open again.

He wanted a drink, badly. He glanced at the tall glass of water on his bedside table but ignored it and reached into the bottom drawer of his desk that he could, thankfully, reach from his bed. A bottle of vodka appeared in his hand, he unscrewed it and poured some of the foul smelling liquid into his hands before splashing it on his neck with a hiss of pain. He tipped his head back and swallowed a good portion of the bottle, as his head began to feel a little lighter he thanked the gods for the quick affect that alcohol had on his system, it meant getting drunk was that much easier. Unfortunately it was also hard to maintain, easy come easy go as they say; he eyed the very empty looking bottle, this was new from only a few days ago, how did he get through this stuff so quickly?

Flash debated getting up or going back to sleep, he decided on sleep and allowed himself to flop backwards onto his pillow. He frowned at the lumpy pillow, he reached his arm under the pillow and pulled something out. He stared at the white tank top, the large bloodstains were undoubtedly his from his neck wound, but… He pulled the shirt close to his chest and held it tightly.

"El…" He mumbled, through the thick haze of alcohol he felt a twinge in his chest and the stirrings of Wally West's mind again. Now that he was no longer being required to rescue her he was free to agonize over every moment of his time with her. Elena's hurt expression flashed before him.

"_Of course, that doesn't bother you. You'll take any woman, all the ones you've slept with since you kissed El here."_

"NO!" Flash yelled angrily throwing the shirt across the room and hiding his head under his pillow, her hurt expression returned in his mind.

"Washn't my fault! Needed to be over you!" He screamed to no one in particular.

"Wasn't my fault…" He sniffed trying to hold back drunken tears, he could already feel himself sobering up a little.

The next morning Batman found himself sat next to the Flash in a room that was empty of people besides themselves. Elena's words seemed to pester him still.

"Flash." Batman began.

"Mmm?" Flash asked rubbing his temples and feeling increasingly sorry that he had managed to find a full bottle of whiskey under his bed, it was enough to give even him a hangover.

"Have you- Are you drunk?" Batman corrected himself suddenly.

"Not are, was. Why do you care?" Flash muttered before looking up at the batman. "That wasn't what you were going to ask me."

"I- Have you been to see Elena?" Batman asked flatly.

"What? After yesterday? I don't want to get her killed do I? Plus, she was just a hostage, who we rescued and returned to her home, justice league business stops there. So do I." Flash said dryly, he didn't like the idea that Batman thought he would just go running to El at the drop of a hat.

"I wasn't accusing you." Batman said simply as he left the room.

"What were you doing then?" Flash shouted after him, the twinge in his head reminded him that shouting was a bad idea. He rubbed his sore head, stupid whiskey.


	12. Creativity

El pulled the canvas towards her and almost as if she were in a trance began to paint, pink went on first, followed by liberal amounts of white and then just the tiniest traces of blue. El stepped back and rubbed her arm, her hand was starting to cramp up, she'd have to leave it a day, not only to let her hand rest but to let the paint dry.

"What is it?" A voice asked from behind her, El jumped up with a yelp, she span and found batman behind her.

"Jesus christ, don't DO that!" El gasped clutching at her chest.

"Uh... sorry. What is it?" Batman repeated again jesturing to the canvas which seemed to be a mess of disorganised shapeless colour.

"I've no idea, it's just... blocks of colour at the moment, something's going to come through it... but i've no idea what. I think this might be a hand here." El noted pointing to a particular spot halfway up the canvas.

"Shouldn't you know what it is?" Batman asked raising an eyebrow.

"You sound like Flash, speaking of which, you're a jerk." El interjected turning to face Batman with definatly folded arms.

"Not this again, I'm here for my car to be fixed, not to be pestered and insulted." Batman stated flatly.

"I'll ignore that. You have no right to make desicions for me, especially not in my love life." She shot back as she headed towards the hidden door to the garage below.

"He's not IN your love life, until yesterday it'd been three years since you'd seen him and even then that had only been about a month that you saw him then. He's not in your love life, you barely know him!" Batman argued annoyed at El's reations towards him.

"And who's fault is that?! Filling his mind with this seeing me will get me killed crap, and to think i actually bought that when he first said it to me, you had no right batman." El sighed before popping the hood of the batmobiel.

"You don't know what he's like with women, he makes them fall for him and then just leaves them at the drop of a hat, i don't think i've seen him hold a relationship longer than two weeks." Batman exclaimed angrily.

"So you're trying to protect me now?" El retorted from under the bonnet of the car.

"I've been trying to protect you the whole damn time!" Batman snapped slamming the hood of his car, nearly shutting El's finger's in it and making her jump and look at him.

"From who? Bad guys? Flash? The world?" she asked quietly, brushing now short brown hair out of her eyes.

"Everyone! Bad guys will try to kill you, Flash will break your heart and the world will screw you over! I'm just trying to make sure that someone who actually deserves a good life, a good education, recognition for their talents actually gets it for once. You shouldn't have to be the nice guy that finishes last." Batman sighed leaning against the side of his car.

"Batman… I'm an adult; I need to make these decisions on my own. If Flash was only messing around with my feelings then I have to live with that. You're like the father I never had, and I know you have every right to worry but… I need to live life if you want me to learn any of those lessons." El sighed as well as she sat on the bonnet and rested her feet on the bat-tires of batman's car.

"I know." Batman nodded.

"Did he ever say anything about me?" El asked with a hopeful grin as she flicked short hair out of her eyes.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Batman muttered.

"El!" flash yelped sitting bolt upright in bed, sweat rolled off his skin in huge beads. Panting, he looked around the room he was in; it was his room back and the justice league space station. Not that he had a room elsewhere, he's given up being Wally West and all things that went with it a year ago, he couldn't see much point, he was just renting a place for someone that didn't exist anymore. He sat up and gingerly felt his neck, it had stopped bleeding but it was still sore. He peeled off the bandage on it and flexed his neck, it didn't seem in danger of ripping open again.

He wanted a drink, badly. He glanced at the tall glass of water waiting for him on his bedside table but ignored it and reached into the bottom drawer of his desk that he could, thankfully, reach from his bed. A bottle of vodka appeared in his hand, he unscrewed it and poured some of the foul smelling liquid into his hands before splashing it on his neck with a hiss of pain. He tipped his head back and swallowed a good portion of the bottle, as his head began to feel a little lighter he thanked the gods for the quick affect that alcohol had on his system, it meant getting drunk was that much easier. Unfortunately it was also hard to maintain, easy come easy go as they say; he eyed the very empty looking bottle, this was new from only a few days ago, how did he get through this stuff so quickly?

Flash debated getting up or going back to sleep, he decided on sleep and allowed himself to flop backwards onto his pillow. He frowned at the lumpy pillow, he reached his arm under the pillow and pulled something out. He stared at the white tank top, the large bloodstains were undoubtedly his from his neck wound, but… He pulled the shirt close to his chest and held it tightly.

"El…" He mumbled and through the thick haze of alcohol he felt a twinge in his chest and the stirrings of Wally West's mind again. Now that he was no longer being required to rescue her he was free to agonize over every moment of his time with her. Elena's hurt expression flashed before him.

"_Of course, that doesn't bother you. You'll take any woman, all the ones you've slept with since you kissed El here."_

"NO!" Flash yelled angrily throwing the shirt across the room and hiding his head under his pillow, her hurt expression returned in his mind.

"Washn't my fault! Needed to be over you!" He screamed to no one in particular.

"Wasn't my fault…" He sniffed trying to hold back drunken tears, he could already feel himself sobering up a little.

The next morning Batman found himself sat next to the Flash in a room that was empty of people besides themselves. Elena's words seemed to pester him still.

"Flash." Batman began.

"Mmm?" Flash asked rubbing his temples and feeling increasingly sorry that he had managed to find a full bottle of whiskey under his bed, it was enough to give even him a hangover.

"Have you- Are you drunk?" Batman corrected himself suddenly.

"Not are, were. Why do you care?" Flash muttered before looking up at the batman. "That wasn't what you were going to ask me."

"I- Have you been to see Elena?" Batman asked flatly.

"What? After yesterday? I don't want to get her killed do I? Plus, she was just a hostage, we rescued and returned to her home, justice league business stops there. And so do I." Flash said dryly, he didn't like the idea that Batman thought he would just go running to El at the drop of a hat.

"I wasn't accusing you." Batman said simply as he left the room.

"What were you doing then?" Flash shouted after him, the twinge in his head reminded him that shouting was a bad idea. He rubbed his sore head, stupid whiskey.

Batman leant back on his swivel chair, the back spring had enough give in it to allow him to stare up at the ceiling and stretch. On his large computer monitor a light flashed and beeped, Batman kicked off of the wall and waited for the wheels on the chair to bring him to a comfortable halt in front on the monitor. He looked up, a picture of El's face had flashed up on the screen. He moved the mouse and clicked on it with a frown.

"Oh no…" He breathed as dread filled his chest.

"Elena!" Batman shouted kicking the door to her flat down, across the room Elena spurted hot tea from her mouth in surprise.

"Holy! BATMAN! What the hell are you doing? Trying to give me a heart attack?!" El shouted at him as she wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve.

"I… you're okay?" Batman questioned feeling rather silly. He looked around the flat, there seemed to be about thirty canvases littered around the room, El looked scruffy but in no immediate mortal peril. He coughed slightly embarrassed and picked the door up and placed it back in the doorframe, it leaned there wonky and looking a lot worse for wear.

"I'm fine. What gave you the idea that I wasn't? You're paying for that door by the way." She added taking a much safer sip of her tea.

"You haven't been to class in three days, or left the house." Batman stated feeling dumber by the minute.

"I'm not even going to ask how you know that. I just got into a bit of a creative spree, finished nearly twenty paintings." El smiled proudly. Batman sat down on Elena's sofa and flipped through the canvasses nearest him.

"This is good… I mean much better than your usual stuff." He noted debating whether what he was thinking of saying next would be a good idea or not.

"Thanks, I still haven't finished the one painting I wanted to finish yet." El sighed as she pulled up her stool in front of the canvas in question. A naked male torso was fairly clearly picked out but the top half of the canvas was still just a wash of colours with the exception of a beautifully painted hand.

"I spoke to Flash today." Batman said regretting the words instantly. El's hand froze, her paintbrush mere centimeters from the canvas.

"I was under the impression you worked together." El said slowly.

"Very funny." Batman glowered at her. "He's drinking now you know, he's self destructive." Batman added irritated.

"And no good for me I suppose." El continued Batman's unspoken thought.

"This isn't love you know, it's an obsession. You're obsessed with him, you don't know him enough to love him." Batman snapped annoyed at Elena's stubbornness.

"True love can be found in a second and last for a lifetime." El said wisely touching her paintbrush to the canvas.

"What is it about him that's got you so convinced this is true love?" Batman sighed staring at a painting of the city at night by his feet.

"He's kind… caring… surprisingly gentle and understanding. He's honest, to be fair, I think his mouth just moves to fast for his brain to let him lie." El giggled and let her brush flow over the canvas more easily than it had done in days, suddenly her creative block with this painting was gone.

"What if I could pull some strings for you? Get your art into a gallery? You could sell some of it and start to really make a name for yourself." Batman offered quietly.

"You can do that?" El asked not taking her eyes off the painting.

"I'll look into it if you want, I'll get the gallery owner to contact you if it works." Batman nodded as he stood up to leave. El nodded, barely registering Batman leaving. A brilliant blue eye appeared on the canvas in front of her.


	13. Rejected

"Call her." Bruce Wayne sighed running a hand through his black hair.

"Are you sure sir?" Alfred asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, she deserves a break, besides, if she were going to sell me out she would have done it years ago." Bruce nodded leaning on the back of the exotic frech lounger.

"Very well sir." The butler nodded dialing the number.

El delicately signed the corner of her painting, she stood up and took a step back, her heart fluttered.

"Perfect." She breathed, the loud noise of her phone ringing startled her out of her revierie.

"Hello?" She asked picking the phone up, a crisp upper class English accent greeted her.

"Is this Elena Dias?" the voice questioned.

"Speaking." She nodded slightly thrown, who could it be?

"I'm calling on behalf of the Modern Art gallery in Gotham City, one of our main contribuors Bruce Wayne has seen your art and reccomended it to us. We'd like to host your art for three nights next week, Friday through Sunday, eighty percent of the profits of any sales you make will go to you of course." The voice informed her.

"I... oh wow..." El breathed in shock, Batman must have REALLY pulled some strings, the Gotham modern art gallery was one of her favorites, back when she'd had more money she'd travel all the way to gotham city just to sit in the gallery in awe of other artists work and now she'd be there... her art on it's hallowed walls...

"Hello? Are you there?" The voice enquired, El realised she'd been silent for ages.

"Oh! Yes, yes, I... that would be amazing." She stuttered in shock.

"Good, people will be around in the next few days to pick up your work." The voice informed her before the phone clicked as the other person hung up. El stood in shock in her flat for a moment or two and then proceeded to scream her lungs out in excitement and throw herself around the room in joy.

Elena stood nervously in front of her mirror, the dress she was wearing had been sent to her by Batman, it had contained a little note on it wishing her good luck, the note had even had a little bat drawn on it. It was emerald green in colour and made entirely out of silk, she got the distinctive feeling that it was by far the most expencive thing in her flat. The colour of it stood out starkly on her tan skin, she fastened her grandmother's turquoise Navajo necklace around her neck carefully. Her fingers brushed her shoulders on their way back to her sides, her hand froze and traced the white scars on her skin along her shoulder. The scars were ragged and bright white in colour standing out almost as much as the dress on her skin. She sighed, the slit of the dress that ran down her leg didn't help either as yet more scars showed.

"Who am I kidding? I look like a street urchin in a fancy frock, I look like I've been boxing half my life." He growled angry at herself.

"Stop it!" She hissed shaking her head, she had enough to worry about tonight without worrying about her appearance, namely whether Flash would show up, her name had been in all the papers, he had to know... right? Slipping on high heels she headed for the door and the taxi that waited downstairs for her.

Wally West stood in a black suit and tie outside the gallery, his heart was beating at a million miles an hour, which was fast even for him. He edged over to a window and peered in, his breath misted the window, and slowly he drew a heart in the condensation. He shook his head, what was he? Five?

"Careful with that!" El's voice rang out; Flash jerked away from the window and around the corner as El dashed towards the window. She halted right in front of the window, her feet were about at chest height for him with the museum being raised so high, his eyes wandered up her leg exposed through the slit down her dress. His eyes locked onto a jagged white scar starting at her knee and spreading upwards, his brows furrowed, he knew those wounds were going to scar but he'd never have imagined they'd have been so… bright. He glanced upwards at El's face, the worried look was fading now that the movers were handling her paintings properly. She looked downwards and tugged the slit of her skirt closed and tried to hug her shoulders inwards to herself.

"Don't look like that… you're still beautiful." Wally West breathed wishing just to reach out and hold her and tell her he was sorry. He shook his head, what was he even doing here? He couldn't just waltz in on her big break, he'd been away from her for three years, he couldn't just show up when he pleased, especially after what had just happened to her. More so, after what had just happened to her he should be thinking more about the danger he had put her in from the first place, what was he doing here? Trying to make sure she got kidnapped again? Angry with himself he zipped off into the distance to become Flash again and to shove Wally West as far into his subconscious as he would go.

Elena looked down at the bottom of the window, a little heart was drawn into the condensation on it, as if someone had been stood there only a moment ago. She shook her head, it was probably just kids messing around.

"Elena." A confident voice said from behind her, a face from the covers of magazines greeted her.

"Ah! You're Bruce Wayne!" Elena squeaked nervously. Bruce Wayne smiled charmingly.

"I must say I love your paintings." He continued with a smile.

"Really? Where have you seen them befo-" Elena paused as the penny dropped, that smile, or rather, that smirk…

"I should have known, you sly dog, I knew you were someone rich." She laughed, Bruce Wayne held a finger to his lips and shushed her, he didn't need EVERYONE knowing.

"I can honestly say I have no idea what you mean." He nodded.

"Of course." Elena smiled.

"Uh… miss? We seem to have lost the frame for this one." An assistant said nervously as he held a canvas facing towards himself.

"Oh, don't worry, that one has no frame, here, let me put it up." El smiled taking the painting from the assistant and walking to the center of the room, she stood on tiptoes to reach the hanger on the wall before letting the painting touch the wall gently.

"Oh…" Batman breathed as he felt his heart flutter in his chest like a caged creature. He gazed up at the painting, it portrayed a man's naked torso, it was painted so softly it seemed to almost radiate divine light from itself, but it was the face that had his heart fluttering. The man's hand facing palm up covered the top half of his face, his fingers parted seductively as they revealed a brilliant blue eye staring back at the viewer. Batman felt like the man in the painting could see his soul, his heart raced and his spine tingled.

"That's how he makes me feel, I never thought I'd be able to paint that feeling, but it seems I have." El said softly by his side.

"Oh my." Another voice said next to Elena, she turned her head, a large tanned man stood to her left gazing at the painting.

"Miss… am I right in assuming you are the artist behind this painting of an angel?" the man enquired in a warm southern tone.

"Yes, do you like it?" Elena asked smiling.

"I more than like it, I love it. How much for it?" The man asked earnestly, Bruce Wayne blinked, he hadn't even realized that someone could even buy this painting, it seemed silly, like offering to buy the Mona Lisa or the cistine chapel.

"I'm afraid it's not for sale. There's only one man in the world who'll ever own this painting, and to him I'd give it for free. It's priceless to me." Elena said wistfully, Batman smiled.

"I'll give you a quarter of a million dollars for it." The man offered with a smile, a diamond glinted from one of his teeth.

"It's not for sale sir." Elena insisted firmly but still with a smile on her face.

"You drive a hard bargain miss, half a million." The man continued more forcefully, the smile faded from Elena's face.

"It's not for sale sir, no matter how much you offer me." She repeated slowly.

"Damnit! I want that painting, and what I want I GET." The man growled at her, suddenly firm hands were on Elena's shoulders.

"The lady said no sir, the painting is not for sale. I think you had best leave." Bruce Wayne said sternly, the southern man looked angry and stormed out of the building with one last cry.

"I'll get that painting, you mark my words!" he yelled.

"My god, are they all going to be like that?" Elena asked feeling shaken.

"Not usually, but you do get the odd nutcase." Batman sighed as he squeezed her shoulders, even he felt shaken by that man.

"Can you believe it? I made twenty five THOUSAND dollars tonight!" Elena squealed in delight as the last few people who had bought paintings left with them.

"You sold nearly everything, you're going to have gallery invitations flooding in after tonight." Bruce Wayne nodded with a smile, a soft beeping him alerted him to the batwave in his pocket.

"Oh damnit, there's a robbery a few streets down. Can you handle closing down by yourself for a few minutes while I deal with this?" He asked looking up at her.

"Oh, I'll be fine, you worry too much." Elena laughed as Bruce Wayne, now fully in Batman mindset nodded and left. Elena slid her painting of the cityscape into it's padded container for the ride home when the lights cut out, a few people in the building screamed in surprise, someone nearly knocked her down running towards the wall. She gasped and dashed towards where her painting of Flash was, or rather, should have been. Her hands brushed bare wall and she glanced to the side to see three robbers running out into the streetlight night. She growled and chased after them.

"Stop! Thief!" She yelled chasing full pelt after them, she wrenched her shoes off her feet and weighing one carefully in one hand threw it in the direction of the robbers. One cracked the middle man straight in the skull and he fell to the floor like a bag of rocks, the other two split up and ran down separate streets. Looking at them she realized in horror they were all carrying identical painting cases, she ripped open the one of the robber at her feet to discover it empty.

"SHIT!" she exclaimed loudly into the night. Batman appeared at her side and a robber fell to the floor with another empty case.

"The other one went that way!" Elena said pointing to her left, batman was just about to set off running when he heard a loud crack, like the sound of someone being unexpectedly clotheslined.

"Now I don't think that belongs to you." A cocky voice said from down the street. Elena gasped in delight.

"Flash!" She exclaimed running towards him, he spun and looked at her like a deer in headlights. He looked from the black painting case to her and made the connection, he thrust it at her. El gratefully took it and unzipped it quickly, the canvas fell out into her hands.

"Don't go!" She gasped seeing him step backwards. "And if you have to, at least take this. I painted it for you, I was hoping you'd come and see it so I could give it to you, here." She said holding out the painting to him, Flash stood immobilized, his eyes not even looking at the canvas but looking straight into her soft brown eyes.

_Kiss her, hold her, touch her, never let her go. _A voice inside his head hissed at him.

"No!" He yelled and ran off so fast Elena barely saw him move.

Batman stood at the corner and heard the tiny little whimper that slipped from Elena's lips, her shoulders fell and she lowered the painting shaking slightly.

"Elena…" He said gently as he drew level with her, she looked down at the painting in her hands, a hot tear slid down her face.

"I turned down half a million dollars for him… I thought this painting was priceless, just for him… but I guess I confused priceless with worthless." The muttered dropping it to the ground, she wiped the tear from her face.

"I wouldn't even sell it now." She added as she turned away and walked off into the night alone. Batman stared down at the painting, he scooped it up before the water on the pavement could get to it. Flash hadn't even looked at the damn thing, he thought annoyed. He lifted the door to the batmobile and slid the painting inside, he'd sure as hell make sure Flash saw it. He gritted his teeth and drove off.


	14. End

**_A/N: yeah i know i already submitted a chapter for this story, but i didn't like the way it was going so here's this one. Sorry it took so long, the damn document uploader crapped out on me and wouldn't let me upload anything for four days!_**

El walked barefoot slowly down the street, she sighed, heartbreak sucked. However, she felt almost relieved, at least she had a definite answer now, shrugging her shoulders she walked on. Suddenly a loud peal of thunder ripped it's way through the air, El looked up and the heavens opened bucketing rain down on her.

"Perfect." She groaned watching her expensive new dress getting soaked, glancing across the street she saw a police station and ran for cover, shaking with cold she entered the door, her muddy feet leaving footprints on the floor.

"Can I help you miss?" The police officer at the desk asked, El looked up.

"Uh… yeah, I'd like to report a crime please." She shivered padding up to the desk soaked through.

"Sure thing. What happened?" The officer asked pulling out a pad and paper.

"I've got an exhibition running across the street, in the art gallery. A man was really interested in one of my paintings, I wouldn't sell it to him and he got pretty angry… As I was packing up three men broke in and stole it, I- I don't know where it is now." El sighed regretfully.

"Right, I'll go get a proper report on this, here, you look frozen through." The police officer smiled handing El his jacket.

"Oh, right. I forgot to get your name." He laughed pulling the paper out again.

"Ah, yes. Elena Diaz." El smiled up at him as she took a seat.

"Weren't you a runner a few years back? Broke some big record?" The man asked with a thoughtful expression.

"Yeah, at a cost though." She laughed quietly indicating her scars.

"Ah, we all have to learn to run before we can walk." He laughed leaving the room through an unmarked door. El smiled and shook her head, the old man had the saying backwards.

Twenty minutes passed and no one returned, she was getting worried. El headed over to the door the man had left through and pushed it ajar slightly.

"Uh… officer-" El looked down at the man's jacket around her shoulders, "Allan? Are you okay in here?" she asked craning her neck in the dark, she couldn't see anyone in the room. Carefully she advanced forward.

"This stuff looks way sophisticated for police work." El commented noting the strange vials of liquids in beakers on the table, "I obviously need to watch more CSI…"

"Oh!" El gasped as her foot connected with something cold and wet, she looked down, it was a massive puddle on the floor. El looked up at the glass ceiling, someone had left a skylight open and the rain was getting in and flooding the place! She noted a steel rod propped up against a table with a hook on it, it looked like the one she had in her flat for closing her skylight. With a sigh she grabbed it and stretched up towards the skylight.

"Stupid… shortness… where are a good pair of heels when you need them?" El grumbled her arm falling to her side, she looked to her right and saw a space on the table amidst all the beakers of colorful liquid, sighing she climbed carefully on the table, it juddered slightly, the legs were uneven. After a second the table stopped rocking, El lifted her arm and the rod up towards the skylight, suddenly the wind blew a huge sheet of rain at her.

"Gah! Oh man, the table's soaked…" El muttered shaking the water off of her and reaching up again for the skylight, the steel rod extended to the heavens above her. A blinding flash of light scorched her eyes and her muscles burned, her ears vaguely registered an explosion on the desk under her, but by the time she hit the ground she was already unconscious.

"I'm telling you, I'm fine!" El snapped exasperated at the nurse.

"Your heart rate is almost 150! You are not fine!" The nurse shouted back at her, suddenly Batman poked his head around the door.

"I turn my back to get your painting back for one minute and you end up in hospital." He said his eyes narrowing at her, El laughed nervously.

"This woman is very sick!" The nurse interjected.

"I'm FINE, you machine is obviously broken!" El shouted back at her.

"I'll have a look at her if you don't mind, criminal investigation and all that." Batman said ushering the nurse out of the door.

"So what actually happened?" Batman asked turning on her, El scratched her hair absentmindedly, it smelt like burning and was slightly singed at the edges.

"To be honest with you? I really don't remember, the last thing I remember was standing on a table in the police lab with all these weird chemicals trying to close the skylight because the place was flooding." El shrugged before flopping back on her bed.

"With one of those metal hooks you mean?" Batman asked raising an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, I think so. Why?" El asked stretching.

"You mean to tell me that you stood on a table in a lightning storm, soaking wet and held a metal rod up in the sky? You probably got hit by-" A thought crossed Batman's mind cutting him off mid sentence.

"You're sure this machine's malfunctioning?" He asked gesturing to the monitor that was beeping frantically at El's high heart rate.

"Of course it is, my heart rate's really low, I'm an athlete remember? If MY heart rate was that high I'd be dying." El snorted rolling her eyes at him.

"But it says your O2 stats are really high as well, much higher than a normal person's…" He muttered checking the machine for faults.

"That's because it's broken, do you see me hyperventilating or having a heart attack?" El groaned at him.

"Be quiet so I can listen." He shushed at her putting a stethoscope in his ears and resting the pad on her back, he frowned at the rapid thumping of her heart, he moved the pad again hoping it was just a mistake, the rapid thumping became louder. He pulled back frowning and looked at her.

"What?" She demanded annoyed.

"I… need to make a call." Batman replied exiting the room.

"Flash?" He asked as the other person picked up the phone.

"Yeah?" the voice replied sounding considerably hung over.

"What's your resting heart rate?" He sighed worried.

"Uh… something high like 150, I do run near the speed of light you know. Why'd you ask?" Flash mumbled confused.

"Never mind that, how'd you get your powers?" Batman waved aside his question.

"Got hit by lightning and chemicals, what is this twenty questions?" Flash yawned.

"I think you should get to the hospital righ-" Batman got cut off as Flash appeared at his side looking worried.

"What is it?" Flash asked looking up at batman.

"It's Elena, she went missing last night after you ran off, the police found her this morning, in their labs unconscious and slightly singed. They figured she'd had an electric shock with all the water that was around and brought her here. Her heart rate is 150 and she's sitting there perfectly fine." Batman sighed looking through the window at her.

"What?!" Flash yelped bursting in the room.

"Get away from me!" El growled swatting another nurse away from her. "I'm not dying!" She glanced up at Flash who stood wide eyed at the foot of her bed.

"I- Flash…" Elena breathed, her face heating up. Silence fell between the two interrupted only by the panicked beeping made by the heart monitor as it kicked up to 210 BPM, with a sad little explosion the machine gave out sprinkling parts on the floor.

"The machine's broken." El said numbly.

"It's not, I mean, it is now but it wasn't." flash shook his head, "I mean that _was_ your heart rate, I think you're just running at superspeed, have you tried running?" Flash said quickly filling with excitement.

"No! What do you want from me? Just… just leave me alone!" El shouted, and in a blur she was gone, the door slamming behind her. Flash opened the door and grinned widely at the trail of destruction down the hallway caused by running at superspeed in a confined space, Batman lay crumpled and dazed on the floor.

"Was that?" He moaned sitting up.

"Yup… she… she's superpowered. Don't worry, she won't get far." Flash beamed happily.

"How'd you know?" Batman asked standing up and brushing himself off.

"She has no shoes on and she's wearing a silk dress for starters. Plus, she's not used to going that fast, it won't be long before she runs into something or falls over." Flash grinned widely.

"What are you so happy about?" Batman growled annoyed.

"Are you really that slow? She's SUPERPOWERED like me! No one will be able to catch her to hold hostage, they'd never be able to go fast enough!" He laughed happily.

"What are you telling me for, go after her." Batman growled dusting off his suit, Flash yelped with happiness and zoomed off to god knows where.

"Soothes the burn doesn't it?" Flash smiled down at the girl with her aching feet in the ocean.

"I think they're bleeding." El winced wiggling her toes under water.

"I'm sorry I ran away last night, I got you these to make up for it, it really was a beautiful painting." Flash smiled holding out a bouquet of red roses to El.

"If you liked it so much why'd you run away?" El asked hurt and pointedly ignoring the roses.

"I… I didn't want to let you know how much I liked it, I was scared if you knew I liked you you'd try and find me. I had to stay away from you to keep you safe, but that's not a problem now!" Flash beamed at her, El stared at him disbelievingly before walking off through the water and pulling herself up onto the pier and nursing her wounded feet.

"What?" He called after her confused at her cold reaction.

"It's just not that damn easy! You can't just go 'oh you have superpowers, let's live happily ever after now' you let me think you leaving me was the right thing for me, by the time I'd realized you were being stupid you were long gone! I saw nothing of you for years, then you rescue me and disappear! And then you run away from me again, you're a jerk!" She shouted down at him.

"I don't mean to be." He blinked shocked.

"Well you are." El huffed limping off.

"You still like me though!" Flash smiled charmingly as he appeared in front of her, El glared at him and walked past him.

"I- El, just… take the roses at least. I'm sorry, let me know when you want to talk okay? I love you." He handed her the roses, kissed her on the cheek and was gone in a flash.

"Jerk…" El smiled sniffing the roses.

End.

A/N: I know this is a weird ending, but… well… I didn't like where the other one was going, so I deleted that chapter and came up with this gem. Any ideas as to who the mystery police officer was? -


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